Wand loaded at both ends
by LitCrit
Summary: An allegory of the relationships between HP fanfic communities.
1. Default Chapter

1.1 "Wand loaded at both ends."  
  
A very short allegorical fic, by LitCrit.  
  
  
  
1.1.1 Chapter 1  
  
"Neville, calm down. It is not Filch." Ron shook his head and rolled his eyes, before turning back to the book. Neville chewed his fingernails.  
  
Around them the shadows breathed across the Restricted Section, whispering fragments of words: "loooong" and "expeeeel" and "Fiiiiiiiilch." The skin on Neville's back crawled under the gaze of knowing tomes, each one just waiting to report to, to, well, just to report. That thought alone was terrifying enough.  
  
But he just had to go.  
  
He nudged Ron, "Hurry up!"  
  
A page was turned, and the crackling of the ancient parchment sounded just like the creak of an ancient wooden hinge.  
  
"Here," said Ron, moving the lamp. It clicked rhythmically as he half dragged it closer to the book. No footsteps would have been that quick, thought Neville, certainly not Filch's, anyway.  
  
"Apparition," read Ron, "is achieved by the simultaneous Disapparition and re-Apparition, as complete corporal parts, at an accurately specified location. Although partial Apparitions, or splinches, and misaligned target Apparitions…"  
  
"I know all that," interrupted Neville. "Hurry up and get to the bit where it tells you how to do it."  
  
They leaned over the book together, Neville murmuring to himself, trying to memorise words.  
  
Ron sat up and turned to Neville.  
  
"Look, are you sure about this, Neville? Apparitions are really advanced magic. Dad always says…"  
  
"And we should always listen to Mr Weasel, Neville. After all, he pays the bills. Oh no, silly me. Normal fathers do that. Still, it will be such a relief to the family coffers to see you expelled, Weasley."  
  
"Malfoy!"  
  
Draco was standing straight, arms folded, smirking at the pair as Neville and Ron stood up and turned to face him. He reached forward and took the invisibility cloak from Neville's limp grasp before suddenly twisting, throwing the cloak over his shoulders.  
  
"And this time, Weasel, I'm not sharing the punishment."  
  
Ron leapt forward, grasping at empty air. He was not fast enough.  
  
"Malfoy!" he shouted, but there was nothing but laughter and receding footsteps.  
  
"Run for it, Neville!" Ron grabbed Neville and dragged him out of the Restricted Section and towards the library door. Already, Malfoy's voice could be heard echoing down the dark halls of Hogwarts.  
  
"Out of bounds! Students in the library!"  
  
"No, no, no!" whimpered Neville, stumbling behind Ron as they clattered away from the library. Ron kicked a door open and they fell through, stumbling over Mrs Norris. Ron froze, seeking inspiration, wishing for that invisibility cloak. He found it – or rather, he heard it behind him.  
  
"Only Malfoy sniggers like that," he said. "You can hear the sneer in it," he shouted as he dragged Neville towards the door, and the invisible obstacle in the way knocked them to the floor. There was another crash, and a leg appeared in front of them.  
  
"Is that you, my sweet?" asked a distant voice.  
  
"Let go, Weasley!" hissed Malfoy. "Give me that cloak!"  
  
Ron leaned close into Malfoy's face, Draco's fringe swaying in Ron's breathless exhalations. He curled his lips.  
  
"We stand or fall together, Malfoy."  
  
For a long second the two lay together, facing each other, as the footsteps grew closer. The tension in the invisibility cloak made it quiver, neither of the two willing to let go of their clinch, until Neville broke the spell.  
  
"Ron!"  
  
The three were on their feet and under the cloak in a second. Just in time, as a bent figure entered the room. Without a word the three crept past him, and to the safety, for some, of Gryffindor Tower.  
  
*****  
  
"We can't stay out here!"  
  
"Neville, neither you nor I are going to say the password in front of Malfoy."  
  
The Slytherin Seeker was standing, apparently oblivious, but ears at the ready to catch the snitch should one of them drop it.  
  
The Fat Lady smiled down at the three.  
  
Deadlock. And more footsteps in the distance. Or was it Malfoy's foot tapping?  
  
'What I really need now,' thought Ron, 'is for Fred to sneak out with Angelina.'  
  
There was a click.  
  
"Hello Ron. What are you doing here?" asked a cheerful voice. Ron breathed a sigh of relief. Fred looked round to see Neville blubbing, and Malfoy sneering up him. "And what is he doing here?"  
  
"Filch is coming, Fred! Filch is after us!" Ron was already pushing past to get into the Gryffindor common room. Malfoy was holding Neville back as the distant sounds began to get louder.  
  
"Don't you dare leave me out here, Weasley. Don't even think about it. The moment my father finds out what you have done, your whole family will regret it."  
  
Fred grabbed hold of Neville and pulled him inside whilst Ron tried to push Malfoy out. It was never going to work. Three people struggling to pull two people in and keep one person out whilst the fourth just wouldn't stop blubbing.  
  
There was a rip and a click, then silence.  
  
"You tore my robe, Weasley. Just wait until my father's brief hears about this!"  
  
Malfoy dusted himself off as he stood up, and held the sleeve of his robe open, examining the rent. He held it up for Fred and Ron to see, only then seeing Angelina, Ginny, Harry and Hermione standing round him.  
  
"Ah," began Malfoy. Hermione rolled her eyes and tutted. Ginny stepped towards Harry and reached out her hand to him, flushing. Well, this is Gryffindor Tower, after all.  
  
"Well," Malfoy continued. Ron and Fred stepped forward, closer to Malfoy, crowding him.  
  
"Ummm," said Malfoy. Neville started to blub again.  
  
"The portrait hole is that way, Malfoy," said Harry, pointing behind Draco's back.  
  
Malfoy laughed.  
  
"I can't go out there, Potter. Filch is out there. He knows that students are out, and he knows that they came from here."  
  
"But they haven't, Malfoy. Filch will know they haven't when he finds a Slytherin out of bounds. Get out."  
  
"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather Apparate. After all, that's what Longbottom and Weasley were reading about in the Restricted Section."  
  
"Neville!" shouted Hermione and Ginny together. Neville's blubbing just became more uncontrollable.  
  
"Now what was that spell again, Longbottom? It was so good of you to find out for me. Oh, and good luck getting rid of Filch."  
  
Draco Malfoy was gone.  
  
*****  
  
"Neville, what have you done?" Hermione had taken Neville by the fire to calm him down and ask him questions.  
  
"Thanks, Ron." Fred slapped Ron on the shoulder as he and Angelina stomped off in disgust. Ron shrugged, and then saw Harry. His shoulders fell again.  
  
Harry just looked at Ron.  
  
"I had to go with him, Harry, I had to. You know Neville hasn't slept since he got here. He's so worried about Trevor. He was threatening to ride home on your Firebolt."  
  
"But Neville falls off."  
  
"Of course. So I had to find another way to get him home."  
  
"Ron, what makes you think that Neville can Apparate? I mean, has he ever managed anything else?"  
  
"I had to do something to stop him from heading for the windows. At least the worst that can happen in the Restricted Section is…"  
  
"Being expelled," interrupted Hermione. "Personally, I'd rather fall out of the window. You need to sort out your priorities, Ron."  
  
Harry turned to see Neville curl up in a chair by the fire, as Ginny stepped closer to Harry in the Gryffindor Tower Common Room.  
  
"Harry," she said, "when the Department of Magical Transportation finds out about Malfoy…"  
  
"That's Malfoy's problem," said Hermione, placing her hand on Ron's shoulder as he took a parchment and picked up a sugar quill. "He's the one who Apparated, not us."  
  
"Exactly, Hermione. He is," agreed Ron, patting her hand and winking at her. He started to write.  
  
"Neville," said Ron, "there is only one safe thing to do. I'll send an owl."  
  
*****  
  
Ginny stretched and closed her book. It fell to the floor as she slowly dozed off. Her dream was about Remus Lupin, but for some strange reason he sounded like Malfoy. And Crabbe and Goyle were behind him. She opened her eyes and gazed at the window, listening to the voices coming from the common room. It was them. Slytherins.  
  
She crept out, into the Fifth Year dormitory, and woke Hermione.  
  
"Ginny. What is it?"  
  
"Malfoy. And his cronies. In the common room."  
  
Hermione sat upright, and froze, listening. There were footsteps, and then that sneer, recognisable even from two rooms away.  
  
"The décor in here is just so tasteless. Red and gold. Ugh."  
  
"Come on," whispered Hermione, and she took Ginny by the hand towards the Fifth Year boys' dormitory. Harry and Ron were already on their way out of the door.  
  
"What is it?" called Neville from his bed.  
  
"Shhh!"  
  
The five of them tip-toed towards the common room, listening as Draco directed Crabbe and Goyle. Gentle thumps and scrapes traced their progress around the room.  
  
Harry and Hermione reached the door first.  
  
"Lumos!" said Hermione.  
  
There was uproar. Crabbe and Goyle shrieked and ran towards Malfoy, who was already wielding his wand. Harry and Hermione stood together, arms and wands outstretched, as Ginny and Ron cast around themselves, reaching out for their friends.  
  
Neville blubbed.  
  
There was a swirling. A musical, resonant and terrifying harmonic that swept the walls and floor of the common room away. And then there was nothing. 


	2. Chapter 2

1.1 "Wand loaded at both ends."  
  
An allegorical fic, by LitCrit.  
  
  
  
1.2 Chapter 2  
  
Neville blinked into the darkness, trying to make something out, but there was nothing to see - only a cold mist. The coarse, damp grass was soaking his clothes, numbing half his body with the cold. He sat up and looked around. He was sitting on a band of rough grass, perhaps ten yards wide, curving into the distance away from the empty mist and around a dark forest. The forest was dense, towering and forbidding – strangely silent.  
  
Neville knew about forests. They are noisy places, full of howls and whines and groans, designed to scrape across your senses and chill your bones, prompting your thoughts with just one word: flee, flee, flee.  
  
The silence of this forest cut across all those senses. It did not communicate with him or hide anything within its shades. Its silence made it all clear, and it was complete, final and eternal. Death was not present in the forest, because the forest was Death.  
  
Whimpering quietly, Neville grabbed the first person he could reach.  
  
Malfoy responded with a jump, and opened his eyes to see Neville's tearful face. Neville's expression caused Malfoy to pause for a while, tilt his head, and smile like a snake.  
  
"What are you scared of, Longbottom?" He stretched out straight on his back into the cold, wet grass, placing his hands behind his head and crossing his legs. "A few minutes of night air never hurt anyone. Good for the constitution, you know. Maybe if you took more exercise you wouldn't be such a piggy." He laughed loudly.  
  
"M..M..M.." stuttered Neville.  
  
A moan came from two large lumps near Malfoy as Crabbe and Goyle started to come to their senses. It had probably been a long search for them. A wet rustling turned their attention to Harry and Ginny striding through the long wet grass towards them.  
  
"How sweet," sneered Draco. "A romantic stroll in the woods. So much more interesting than being in Gryffindor Tower all the time."  
  
"Very clever, Malfoy," shouted Harry. "Just what do you think you were doing in our Common Room? And do you have any idea just how dangerous it is to Apparate a whole group of people? Anything could have happened."  
  
"H...H…Harry," stuttered Neville.  
  
"Frightened, Harry? Of a little Apparition?" Draco sneered up at the sky, and settled into his damp nest in the grass. The icy water had soaked through his thin black shirt, sticking it to his long, thin shape. Droplets glistened on his slick hair, rolling onto the ground instead of soaking in. His tongue flicked between his sharp teeth as he glared across at Harry.  
  
With a quick, sinewy movement Draco curved his back and rose to his feet. He walked around Harry slowly, rising and falling gracefully.  
  
"It really is laughably easy to catch you off your guard, Potter. If I were serious, you would be in all kinds of trouble now. I mean, your minions wake the whole of Hogwarts blundering around the library at night, practically give me their invisibility cloak, kindly point out the correct reference in the book they shouldn't be reading, and then leave all sorts of things lying around the common room. It's lucky for you that I only Apparated there for a little practical joke." Malfoy pulled a parchment and sugar quill out of his wet pocket. The sugar quill had melted in the heat and damp of his trousers, and the writing there was such a mess as to be unreadable.  
  
"Where is that Weasel? He can't write, you know."  
  
"That's Ron's!" insisted Ginny. "What are you doing with it? Give it to me."  
  
Neville was treading the ground nervously. "H...H…Harry," he repeated, pulling on Harry's sleeve. He couldn't tear his eyes off the forest.  
  
"I wouldn't worry about it if I were you," said Malfoy, squinting at the writing. "Weasel only wants to know about a sick frog. Still, at least the owl will get a nice snack when it delivers this letter."  
  
Ginny gasped and placed her hand over her mouth, turning to look at Neville.  
  
"Now look here, Malfoy!" Harry stepped aggressively towards Draco, but Ginny pulled him back.  
  
"Harry, look at Neville," she said.  
  
Neville was transfixed, staring straight at the forest, white and shivering. Harry and Ginny followed his gaze, puzzled.  
  
"What is it, Neville?" asked Ginny.  
  
Harry continued to turn around, taking in the surroundings. He looked straight past Malfoy's sneer, ignoring him. Malfoy tried again.  
  
"What are you frightened of, Potter? Are you missing your teddy bear?"  
  
Harry continued to turn, looking beyond the sward into the mist, not even acknowledging Malfoy's existence.  
  
"Potter, you little coward, you are completely useless."  
  
Still Harry ignored him, slowly turning full circle, taking in their little sphere. In the distance he saw Ron and Hermione hurrying round the trees to join them.  
  
"I'm bored with this now," sniggered Draco. He snapped his fingers, and Crabbe and Goyle stood behind him. "Give my regards to the adventurous couple," he said, nodding towards Ron and Hermione, "but it really is time to leave."  
  
He wielded his wand, but Harry didn't even look his way. Ginny glanced at him before turning back to Neville, giving him her hanky.  
  
With an exaggerated "tut" Draco waved his wand.  
  
This time, the wrong nothing happened.  
  
*****  
  
"This is not the Forbidden Forest," said Harry. He tightened the belt on his dressing gown and thrust his hands into the pockets. Neville was still staring rigidly at the forest as Ginny tried to comfort him. She looked at Harry out of the corner of her eye, speaking some soothing words to Neville. Harry understood the message: not now, not yet.  
  
Ron and Hermione were still a short distance away, so he turned to look at the others.  
  
Malfoy was staring at his wand in disbelief. He tried a few spells just to be certain.  
  
"Arefacio!"  
  
A droplet of water teased its way down his cheek, collected itself on the point of his chin, and fell spinning to the ground. Harry smirked.  
  
"Recalere!"  
  
The thought made Harry pull his dressing gown collar up round his ears. Thank goodness he wasn't as wet as Malfoy, but then not much is as wet as Malfoy and his cronies.  
  
Crabbe and Goyle shivered, but Malfoy's fury was warming him far more effectively than his magic. He gave up on his wand and threw it to the ground in disgust. Seeing Hermione and Ron arrive at Harry's side, he ran to the trio.  
  
"This is all your fault, Potter. And yours too, Granger. If it weren't for you two doing your own thing, my magic would achieve anything I want. It's because of you that I am soaking wet and freezing cold. Why do you have to ruin everything?"  
  
"We did nothing, Malfoy. If I'd been quicker, I'd have managed 'Oblittero' and your pathetic attempt at a multiple Apparition wouldn't have landed us here. Wherever 'here' is." Hermione stopped walking as she spoke, and stood facing Malfoy with her arms folded.  
  
"I don't know where 'here' is," said Harry. Draco sneered at Harry yet again.  
  
"What? The great Harry Potter is lost, is he? What a let-down that must be for you, Ginny. Still, I'll bet that Gryffindor Tower would be a far nicer place without you two there all the time."  
  
Harry just looked at Malfoy. Not a word was spoken for a long moment.  
  
Draco turned around and stormed off, Crabbe and Goyle scampering behind him, pausing only to fight over the privilege of picking up his discarded wand. The Gryffindors watched them recede into the distance.  
  
"Where are we, Harry?"  
  
"I don't know, Ron. But this is not a welcoming place. And that forest has given Neville the creeps."  
  
"I'm sorry about that, Harry. I don't know what came over me. But it felt like death." Simultaneously, the five of them shivered. Harry and Hermione looked at their own useless wands, and then stared across the mist for a few seconds. There was no magic, nothing to look at, and no knowing how they were going to get back.  
  
"Come on," said Harry, "we need to find somewhere warm and dry so we can get some rest. Do you think you can manage coming into the forest, Neville?"  
  
Neville stood carefully upright, and as the colour drained from his face, he nodded stiffly. With Ginny on one side and Hermione on the other, he led the way into the forest.  
  
*****  
  
"This is a foul night to be stuck outside," thundered Malfoy, breaking a branch from the undergrowth and throwing it across the sward. He brushed gritty pieces of bark from his shrivelled fingertips, still sticky from the sugar quill he had cast aside. He cursed Harry Potter and the rest of Gryffindor Tower. Looking out into the mist, there was still no sign of Hogwarts. Seething, he started walking again. Crabbe and Goyle trudged after him, playing with his useless wand.  
  
I know I can Apparate, thought Malfoy. In fact, I can Apparate with other people. I took Crabbe and Goyle from the Slytherin common room and into the Gryffindor common room. So why did I end up outside the school? He stopped short, Crabbe and Goyle almost walking into him.  
  
Was he walking towards the school, or Hogsmeade?  
  
He looked to his right, and saw only mist. Surely there should be some lights visible across the water?  
  
Malfoy walked towards the sea of mist, Crabbe and Goyle following tentatively behind him. The lake was a long way across the sward, but no matter how far he walked, he couldn't see anything but mist. He turned and looked around. Crabbe and Goyle were just behind him, but beyond them there was nothing but mist. Shaken, he rushed back until he could see the trees again. This was not right.  
  
Faster this time, more apprehensive, the three paced along the sward, careful to stay close to the trees. 


	3. Chapter 3

1.1 "Wand loaded at both ends."  
  
An allegorical fic, by LitCrit.  
  
1.2 Chapter 3  
  
Deep in the forest, Harry took his dressing gown off and hung it over a branch to dry. Steam rose from it gently.  
  
"This is a very, very strange place," he said, looking through the trees at the distant mist. The first glimmers of daylight gave it a rosy glow, and birdsong was growing louder and clearer. He dropped his wand into the pocket of his dressing gown, and to his surprise the whole gown billowed for a second. He turned and looked to the others.  
  
Hermione raised her wand and said, "Arefacio!" Her own nightgown and hair dried. She raised her hand to her head, puzzled.  
  
"Why does magic work in here, but not out there?"  
  
"I don't know," answered Harry, "but there is no point in being wet and cold now." It took a moment's work for the five of them to be dried.  
  
Harry walked back to the edge of the forest with his wand, and raised it.  
  
"Lumos!" he said. Light blazed behind him, but in front of him, across the sward, there was nothing but the dull predawn glow.  
  
"This is weird!" said Ron.  
  
"This is not a real place," said Hermione. "I don't think that Malfoy's Apparition worked properly. We have got stuck somewhere."  
  
"Well, we're not in Hogwart's any more," said Harry. "That's for certain. We are on our own, now. Just us, and our own skills. What are we going to do?"  
  
Ron shrugged.  
  
"We'll just have to look out for ourselves."  
  
*****  
  
"That was a light, in the trees ahead!" cried Malfoy.  
  
Crabbe and Goyle looked up. Malfoy was running. They tried to keep up, but their frozen legs were stiff and uncoordinated. Goyle fell over, dropping Draco's wand.  
  
Ahead, Draco was peering into the trees, trying to find the source of the light. He walked up and down the sward, and stopped, looking at the ground. He looked up again at the other two as they finally caught up, puffing and panting. They staggered to a stop, and watched Malfoy stupidly as he strutted up and down the empty sward, engrossed in his own thoughts. Neither of them dared ask him what he was doing.  
  
All around Malfoy there were patches of flattened grass and footprints. One was about Malfoy's height, straight across the middle, as though someone had lain down in the wet grass. It was almost as if… but no, that would not be possible.  
  
He looked up again into the forest, and sure enough there was a path trodden into the grass, leading to a small gap in the undergrowth. With an expression of pure hatred on his face, he hunched his shoulders and stamped up the path, into the trees.  
  
Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other. They had always followed Draco, from the very beginning. They didn't know how to do anything else, even when he led them into trouble. Following him was inevitable, so they fell into step behind him without a thought.  
  
As Malfoy pushed through the thicket he noticed that it was dry and warm, and flapped his sticky shirt to try and rid it of some of the moisture. As he pushed deeper into the forest, the light grew stronger and he could see the colours of trees, flowers, fruit and small, fast birds. He ignored them, and slashed through the undergrowth with his arms, cutting a wide path.  
  
He could hear the others stumbling along behind him, but was more interested in what was happening ahead. Eventually, he could hear some kind of activity. He violently gestured to Crabbe and Goyle, who paused. With a slow hand movement, he told them to settle down to the ground, and then he crawled along silently.  
  
Sure enough, in front of him, the Gryffindor refugees had set up camp in the woods. Dressing gowns were hanging from trees, and the five were quietly working on making a small clearing. Malfoy laughed at the sight of them in their pyjamas and night-shirts, but his laughter stopped when Ginny cast a spell, and a fallen bough lifted itself up and settled into place across two trees. He turned around and crawled back Crabbe and Goyle.  
  
"Give me my wand."  
  
Crabbe turned to look at Goyle, whose mouth fell open stupidly.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"I, umm, I dropped it," said Goyle, guiltily.  
  
"Well go and get it," answered Malfoy, savagely. As Goyle turned Malfoy kicked at him, sending him flying to the ground.  
  
"Stay here, and be quiet," Malfoy ordered Crabbe, and turned back to the small Gryffindor camp.  
  
When he returned he saw that the building had progressed rapidly. There were two tent like frames suspended between trees and Neville and Ginny were lining the frames with branches and long grasses to create roofs. Harry, Ron and Hermione were standing in a circle, holding their wands and discussing something animatedly. Ginny and Neville were obviously listening carefully.  
  
As Draco watched, Ron tried to cast a spell, but nothing happened, and on the still morning air he distinctly heard the name 'Malfoy' mentioned. Harry and Hermione both shook their heads rapidly. Draco sat down, and watched as the group parted, and started working on some small, insignificant tasks.  
  
What is going on? He thought. This was not the Forbidden Forest. He had walked steadily down the sward for quite a few minutes and ended up back where he started. Spells could not be cast out there, but he had seen Ginny cast a spell in the clearing. Yet why couldn't Ron cast a spell?  
  
Potter, he thought. Potter has done something! This is all his fault.  
  
He turned and looked again at the small encampment. Ron was picking fruit from a tree, and with a casual flick of his wand, he gently lifted off the ground to grab a fruit that was out of reach. Malfoy's face screwed up in confusion. He looked around at their work – they had a camp with a fire, small piles of fruit in woven baskets, and Harry was actually sitting in a chair, helping Ginny to reshape branches to make another seat.  
  
How dare they make themselves comfortable like that?  
  
Malfoy got up and returned to Crabbe, who was sitting shivering. He grabbed Crabbe by the collar and half dragged him back out to the damp cold of the sward.  
  
"They can have their pathetic little camp," he snarled. "But that is all they can have. We are going to rule this entire sphere!" He kicked out at Crabbe.  
  
"Go and find out what's taking so long with that wand!"  
  
With a yelp, Crabbe ran ahead to join Goyle in his search for Draco's wand in the long damp grass.  
  
*****  
  
It seemed to take hours. Crabbe and Goyle suspected that Malfoy's rantings were actually distracting them from the task of finding his wand, but of course they did not dare say it out loud. When they did find it, it seemed far smaller that they remembered. Malfoy held it up in his hand and the three stared at it for a moment.  
  
"This will be the greatest wand here. It will put me in my rightful place. But first, we must do something about those Gryffindors."  
  
He led his small following into the forest, and quickly dried and warmed them. This gave him all the thinking time that he needed.  
  
"Get yourselves a branch each, something we can make into brooms." Without a thought, Crabbe and Goyle obeyed, struggling with trees to rip lower branches from them. Within half an hour, two trees were stripped of bark and weeping sap, and the two proudly presented Draco with their twisted offerings, looking for all the world like sorry excuses.  
  
With savage yanks, he ripped the greenery from the branches, and started working on them with his wand. After a few minutes, he had made two crude brooms. Crabbe and Goyle stood and watched with an awed expression as he cast a long and complex spell on them, and sure enough, the two brooms lifted into Draco's waiting hands.  
  
He handed them to Crabbe and Goyle.  
  
"Go and distract them. Lead them away from their little encampment. I need at least five minutes."  
  
Crabbe and Goyle nodded to each other. Plans, whatever they were, they did not understand. But they knew what their job was, and they were good at it. They climbed onto their makeshift brooms, and shakily rose through the canopy. Malfoy jogged back out to the sward, and quickly made his way back towards the Gryffindor camp.  
  
*****  
  
"It is a question of priorities, really. We do have to find a way back to Hogwarts, but we still don't know how long we are going to be here," explained Harry. "Hogwarts is the most important priority, but food and shelter is more pressing. And anyway, we have to learn whatever we can about this place."  
  
Ron was obviously quite comfortable, stretched out in a hammock, sucking on a sugar quill and stroking Hermione's hair with his other hand as she sat next to him.  
  
"We have to get back to Hogwarts," insisted Ginny. "We must."  
  
"We will, Ginny," said Harry. "We will."  
  
The group sat together talking as Crabbe and Goyle silently descended through the trees behind Neville, who was carefully peeling the foliage from a large branch set into the ground. Goyle swung sideways on his broom, and firmly kicked Neville from his seat.  
  
"Hey!" shouted Harry as he leapt from his seat, chasing after the two broom riders. Crabbe and Goyle rose just out of reach, and started grabbing fruit from trees to throw at Neville. Neville ran, and the two riders followed on, with Harry and Ron pursuing. Hermione and Ginny started to run after them, until Hermione held Ginny back.  
  
"Where is Malfoy?" asked Hermione.  
  
Ginny looked up at her with wide eyes. The two girls lifted their wands and turned to face their camp, and waited quietly as the sounds of pursuit receded behind him.  
  
Sure enough, after only a few moments, Malfoy slithered into view in front of the two girls.  
  
"Just try to stop me," he challenged. He raised his wand in one hand, and swaggered into the camp.  
  
Hermione placed one hand on Ginny's shoulder and gently pulled her backwards whilst Malfoy peered inside the two tents and examined the seats that had been made. He picked up some of the fruit they had gathered, and ate it. He turned back towards the girls, kicking the baskets across the ground and treading on the contents. Finally, he saw what he wanted.  
  
He uprooted Neville's branch.  
  
"What's this?" he demanded.  
  
"Neville's flagpole," answered Ginny.  
  
"Not any more," he sneered. "It's just what I wanted."  
  
He stamped across to one of the tents, and lifted an armload of the branches that had been tied into place to form the roof, and strode out of the encampment.  
  
***** 


	4. Chapter 4

1.1 Wand loaded at both ends  
  
1.2 Chapter 4  
  
"There's one!" screamed Malfoy. "After it!"  
  
Crabbe and Goyle had no chance. Their brooms were twisted and broken in the middle, bending dangerously every time they changed direction. Their progress was slow and clumsy. Draco's broom was certainly too long for him, and was very badly pieced together, but the staff stolen from Neville was sound and strong. Even though the whole ensemble made for a bad broom, he still turned far faster than the other two, and accelerated after the small bird.  
  
In their pursuit they passed over the Gryffindor camp, and Crabbe and Goyle dutifully kicked out at the tops of the trees, raining debris onto the people below. Ahead, Malfoy cheered himself along as he swerved after the small bird, getting closer and closer.  
  
After one final, desperate turn, he caught it in one hand.  
  
Crabbe and Goyle cheered loudly, clapping quickly before grabbing hold of their brooms before they could fall off.  
  
Malfoy led his small group back towards the small encampment, and stepped to the ground. With his broom in one hand, he casually walked past Harry and dropped the dead bird into Ginny's lap. She screamed.  
  
"Just pluck it and cook it," he ordered.  
  
Ginny jumped to her feet and the dead animal fell to the ground.  
  
"Malfoy, I think you should leave."  
  
As Malfoy turned to face Harry, Crabbe and Goyle settled to either side of Neville and pushed him off his seat, which they then tried to fight over.  
  
"Why on earth would I want to leave, Potter?" asked Malfoy.  
  
There was a yelp from Neville as Goyle kicked him.  
  
Ron moved round to help Neville, but Malfoy stepped into his path, sneered at Ron, and took a piece of fruit from a basket.  
  
"This looks like a lovely arrangement you all have here," said Malfoy, casually spitting pips over Ron and Ginny. "Very comfortable."  
  
"You are not welcome here, Malfoy," repeated Harry.  
  
"Well, you'd better move me along, then!" Malfoy stood in front of Harry and folded his arms, his legs apart and his shoulders squared. Behind Draco, Crabbe was throwing pieces of the chair at Neville. Hermione had tried to step in, but she was being held at bay by Goyle who was swinging his broom at her.  
  
"Stop them, Malfoy!" she shouted. Malfoy just laughed at her. Ron tried to push past Malfoy, but he pushed him back. At the same time, Hermione jumped towards Goyle, who hit her with his broom. Neville saw his chance.  
  
He leapt to his feet and charged at Crabbe, knocking him to the ground. Neville kept running, snatching the broom from Malfoy and holding on tight as he lost balance. The broom spun and lifted, rising quickly as Neville hung on underneath.  
  
On the ground below, Draco Malfoy shouted at Neville  
  
"Longbottom, you'll pay for that!"  
  
"It's my flagpole, Malfoy!" shouted Neville.  
  
Malfoy spat, stole Goyle's broom, and jumped onto it to give chase.  
  
Neville struggled to hang on to the broom as it quickly rose out of the canopy of trees. Slowly Malfoy rose behind him, watching as Neville finally managed to lift his leg over the broom.  
  
The broom was wide and strong, making it easy for Neville get into a comfortable position, and he managed to lie flat on top of the staff and rest for a moment.  
  
On the ground below, Crabbe was running away from the Gryffindor camp, dragging his own broom behind him. He looked quickly over his shoulder, but he was not being chased. Pausing, he caught his breath, and then mounted his broom to rise above the canopy.  
  
"Longbottom!" shouted Malfoy.  
  
"It's my flagpole," shouted Neville, hanging on.  
  
Ahead of him, Crabbe could see Neville and Malfoy high above on their brooms, Neville in the lead, turning slowly towards Crabbe.  
  
Crabbe saw Malfoy nod once, and leaned forward on his broom to climb and accelerate. He was heading directly for Neville.  
  
Neville looked up, saw the figure approach him, and swerved upwards and away from him. Malfoy was behind him, so that left him one way to go: out over the sward. Fine, thought Neville, and drove his broom higher. He could hear Malfoy laughing behind him.  
  
Higher and higher Neville climbed, not realising that Malfoy and Crabbe were hanging back, not until it was too late.  
  
As Neville past over the last of the trees it was as if the magic of his broom expired. He made a graceful parabolic arc over the sward, never once letting go of his useless flagpole as he fell to the ground.  
  
*****  
  
Malfoy watched Neville's fall with a sneer on his lips, and then slowly rose to join Crabbe.  
  
"We need food," he said, and sped off away from the Gryffindor camp.  
  
*****  
  
On the ground, at the edge of the forest, Ginny was crying, with Harry comforting her. Ron was with Hermione, who was being violently sick behind a shrub.  
  
Even Goyle, who was standing ahead of them on the wet grass, was pale and shivering; that could have been the cold.  
  
Goyle turned and face the four remaining Gryffindors.  
  
"Malfoy is his own worst enemy, not just ours," spat Hermione. Goyle just looked at her, and turned and ran.  
  
Ron nodded to Hermione, and gently wiped her face with his sleeve.  
  
"Do you think you can help me, Ron?" asked Harry.  
  
Ron nodded, queasily.  
  
The two wizards crossed the sward to find the body as the two witches returned to the camp. Ginny was still crying when they returned, and Hermione lay her down on a nest of ferns inside their shelter. Within a moment Ginny was asleep.  
  
Hermione examined the debris in their camp, listening to the sound of Ginny's breathing underscoring the birdsong. All around there were fragments of the chairs and baskets that Harry had been so busy making, and that Crabbe and Goyle had used to torment Neville.  
  
Hermione's eyes dried, and she slowly straightened up, her breathing becoming more shallow and economical.  
  
She knew what she had to do, and she knew that Harry and Ron would try to stop her, so she had to go quickly.  
  
The path to the sward was becoming quite obvious now as it had been used so many times, so that would be the way that Harry and Ron would come with Neville's body. She took her wand, and gracefully flicked it.  
  
"Ego leviosa" she said, and floated gently over the undergrowth, quickly disappearing into the canopy.  
  
Moments later Harry and Ron returned, carrying Neville's broken body between them. Harry quickly looked into the witches' tent, and saw Ginny's sleeping shape. Quickly gesturing to Ron to remain quiet, they took up a piece of broken chair each, and transfigured them into small spades. Finding a suitable spot to the side of their camp, they silently began to dig.  
  
*****  
  
Malfoy and Crabbe were racing again across the treetops, chasing birds. Crabbe had neither the talent nor the equipment, but was serving as an excellent gillie, scaring the birds from their nests and into Malfoy's path.  
  
Crabbe would circle quickly over Malfoy, who would slowly cross the treetops until he heard birdsong nearby. Then, with a quick pirouette on his broken broom he would signal to Crabbe who would dive into the canopy, chanting "Sly-the-rin! Sly-the-rin! Sly-the-rin!"  
  
As the canopy was disturbed, a small flock of birds would break out of their nests.  
  
The Slytherin Seeker was catching the small birds expertly in one hand, breaking their necks, and dropping them onto Goyle below.  
  
Goyle was catching the dying creatures with shrieks of "Syltherin HOUSE!" and dancing around a fire as he plucked them.  
  
After an hour or so they returned to the ground for their feast. Malfoy and Goyle were both covered in blood, and Crabbe was tending a fire that gently roasted a rack of a dozen or so small fowl. Solemnly, Malfoy raised a gory finger and painted a stripe across Crabbe's face.  
  
Crabbe smiled widely and gave Goyle his broom.  
  
"Go and catch us a bird," he suggested.  
  
Goyle sniggered at Malfoy, and the two of them mounted their brooms and rose into the trees. This time, they were hunting with a different tactic, slowly stalking through the treetops in search of bigger prey. What they found was far more exciting than a bird.  
  
Below Goyle, Hermione was floating slowly across the forest, below the canopy but above the undergrowth.  
  
*****  
  
"That should be deep enough," said Harry. The ground was shoulder height, and he had to give Ron a leg up to get out. Ron gave Harry a hand up.  
  
Covered in soil, they slowly walked to Neville's body, and stood looking at it.  
  
"We really should let the girls be here for this," said Ron.  
  
"Yes," answered Harry. He was standing stiffly, his face screwed up in pain.  
  
Ron and Harry stood together for a few moments, not looking at each other. Finally, Ron spoke again.  
  
"We should let them sleep first."  
  
*****  
  
The screeches were getting closer again, and Hermione was convinced that they could hear her heavy breathing, even over their own noise.  
  
"Slytherin!" screamed Goyle as he flashed past her. This time she managed to dodge his outstretched leg, escaping another painful blow. She didn't see that it was a feint, forcing her into the path of Malfoy. His foot caught her on the back of her right shoulder, sending her spinning into a tree.  
  
As she blacked out for a moment, her levitation spell broke, and she fell to the ground heavily.  
  
"Slytherin HOUSE!" called Goyle as he watched her fall. He wiped sweat from his brow with his bloodstained hand, and laughed loudly as Malfoy moved into position at his side.  
  
Hermione staggered to her feet, and turned to see the two riders lean forward into their brooms. She found it difficult to focus on them. Her hands were empty – she had dropped her wand. There was nothing she could do.  
  
She stood and faced them. 


	5. Chapter 5

1.1 Chapter 5  
  
Ron was screaming, shouting at the top of his voice.  
  
"I'll get you for this, Malfoy! I'll get you!"  
  
Ginny and Harry were sitting, looking at Hermione, lying peacefully on her back. There was no sign of violence apart from a livid mark across her throat.  
  
It had taken them most of the day to find her, sweeping backwards and forwards through the trees as they moved away from the Gryffindor camp to the tower of smoke that had betrayed the Slytherins' location. They had known before they began their search, though, that it would be a bleak one, one that they would not like to conclude. Malfoy had intimated as much when they had asked him about Hermione's disappearance.  
  
"This is my domain, and I am the greatest here. You either follow me, or you are not worthy."  
  
Ron was about to start pushing through the undergrowth, but Harry held him back.  
  
"Not now, Ron. Not now. He isn't worth it."  
  
Ron tried to break free, but Harry wouldn't let go.  
  
"Come on," said Harry. "We need to bury Hermione."  
  
Eventually, Ron stopped pulling, and breaking down in tears, he joined Harry and Ginny in their sorry task.  
  
*****  
  
It was dark again by the time they had finished with the second grave. All three were tired, but none of them wanted to sleep. They sat around a small lamp, and talked.  
  
"He should be stopped," said Ron.  
  
"We can do nothing," repeated Ginny. He will let us stay here in peace if we leave him alone."  
  
"Our existence troubles him, Ginny," Ron said. "He cannot even accept that we are here. He wont be happy until we are gone."  
  
"Then we have to face him," said Harry. He was weeping.  
  
"Malfoy has ruined my life," said Ron quietly.  
  
"What Malfoy has done is surrender to the darkness of his own heart, and destroyed the innocence of all those who have come here."  
  
Together they wept for their loss of innocence, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend.  
  
*****  
  
Early in the morning Harry, Ron and Ginny could be seen from a great distance, walking along the sward. Their dressing gowns were looking grubby and torn, but they were dry, and making good progress.  
  
Each held their own wand.  
  
Goyle, whose hunger had woken him earlier than the other two, alerted Malfoy to their presence. The Slytherins were all fully dressed, complete with shoes, but only one of them had a wand, much longer than usual.  
  
Malfoy's wand had Hermione's grafted to it, handle to handle.  
  
As the Gryffindors turned to enter the forest near to the small Slytherin camp, Malfoy faced them and casually spun the joined wands in his fingers.  
  
"What do you want, Potter?" he demanded.  
  
"I want order, and peace, Malfoy," answered Harry. "I want us to work together to get us all back to Hogwarts."  
  
"Let me show you how to work together, Potter," shouted Malfoy. He raised the wand.  
  
"Your way hurts you as much as us!" said Harry. "Like your wand – it cannot be used in one direction only. It is aimed, but the person wielding it is struck just as violently as the target."  
  
"You were always nothing but a coward, Potter. Why should I be afraid of a wand loaded at both ends?"  
  
With a swish, and a flick, Draco Malfoy cast his spell.  
  
*****  
  
  
  
The plotline for this fic is borrowed from William Golding's 'The Lord of The Flies.' I apologise for any violence I have done to his great work.  
  
I hope you read this in the spirit it was intended. 


End file.
